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Two Escaped Inmates Captured, One Still on the Run in South Carolina

June 27, 2016

(BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.) — Two brothers who escaped from a South Carolina jail were captured Sunday night while a third inmate remains on the loose, Berkeley County Sheriff’s deputies said.

Berkeley County Chief Deputy Mike Cochran said Michael Bryan Chaplin and Matthew Daniel Chaplin surrendered about 9:15 p.m. after SWAT team members surrounded them in a home in Goose Creek, South Carolina.

Deputies are still searching for 34-year-old Donald Ray Little. According to police, Little is about 6 feet tall and 165 pounds.

The escape happened early Friday inside the Dorchester County jail, roughly 50 northwest of Charleston, when the three inmates broke out of a window, using bed sheets to escape the facility.

Police said they stole a truck from a nearby home that was later recovered in Berkeley County Friday.

Officials say the suspects stole another vehicle Friday from Charleston County. A deputy spotted the suspects in the vehicle Saturday and attempted to pull them over, ABC Charleston affiliate WCIV-TV reported.

Instead, the truck drove away, setting off an eight-hour manhunt that was called off that evening.

Cochran said deputies learned the Chaplin brothers were at the house in Goose Creek about 1 p.m. Sunday. He said SWAT surrounded the house while deputies went to get a search warrant. Once they had it in hand, negotiators contacted the men and they surrendered.

The suspects were returned to the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office. A bond hearing has not been set.

Little, 34, was in jail for a probation violation. He was convicted in 2014 of making meth and sentenced to prison and probation, according to court records.

Michael Bryan Chaplin, 31, was in jail on two counts of grand larceny and four counts of burglary.

Matthew Daniel Chaplin, 28, was jailed on three counts of larceny, possession of meth, card theft and possession of a stolen vehicle.